Welcome to Bimmerfest -- The #1 Online Community for BMW related information! Please enjoy the discussion forums below and share your experiences with the 200,000 current, new and past BMW owners. The forums are broken out by car model and into other special interest sections such as BMW European Delivery and a special forum to voice your questions to the many BMW dealers on the site to assist our members!

My feeling is a wise man knows what they have - or are buying. I personally wouldn't consider buying a used BMW that I didn't have an intimate knowledge of how it was maintained and cared for, that wasn't under warranty.

That said, buying a used BMW [or continueing to drive both of mine] from someone that is as anal as I am about my cars and has records as concise as mine are, that show no unexpected issues, woudln't be a problem for me.

I firmly believe BMW is a quality car and will retain that quality with proper upkeep and maintenance.

I presently own a 2002 BMW 530i. As long as you do the regular maintenance to your vehicle there is no reason why you should have nothing but a great experience driving a BMW. Typically maintenance is required less on BMW's than most cars. People cannot believe my car is 11 years old. It continues to put a smile on my face everytime I drive it. Good Luck.

I've never owned a BMW (or any car for that matter) *in* warranty. My Z3M is nearing 140k.

The general feeling is, don't buy a BMW you can't afford, used, out of warranty.

If you buy it used and can easily afford it, you'll have money on hand if anything goes wrong. It's always a tradeoff, but I have a hard time imagining a used BMW where you spend more every month on repairs than you spent buying it, unless you're buying some beat salvage title E39 M5 or something.

If you buy an F30 new and plan to keep it for a long time -- why not? By the time it's paid for and out of warranty, again, you'll have plenty of free money to deal with any issues that might come up.

I've heard the lower series cars are actually much more reliable. I know a lot of the v8 engines cost more to keep running , burn oil etc.

I've got some faith in BMW. Parents have had 3 and none have give them any major problems . I think one a power window motor died. And my dads 2004 x3 only thing that's ever gone wrong was he had to replace the ac compressor after 7 years. He's finally swelling it after 135k miles and bought a 2013 x3 to replace it. I'm hoping my luck is the same with my first BMW. Two months in no problems so far!

You can see the flip side of it as well. The Appleton person can afford a very nice big house, so he ties up more of his money to it leaving less for a car. The Manhattan guy has no chance in hell to afford a house, so he has more money left over for a nice car. Fancy cars in average apartments is not unusual in L.A.

Why would anyone in Manhattan even want a car, let alone a nice car. Garaging the car would probably run close to the payments, and no need for speed when you lucky to do 40 mph.

I think we are making the same argument? Isn't it still true that ownership in Manhattan (let's say NYC to be more general and relevant) still requires more capital and higher payments than rent? My point was that if you make a little lower than what you need to own, and so you instead rent, you have more money left for a car. I think this is true regardless of where you live. However, many more people will be able to get into a house in Appleton or wherever, so they will not have enough to spare for a car splurge. In LA, especially West LA, we have a slightly lesser version of the NYC problem. An old crappy 3 bedroom will cost you a million. So folks making decent but not great salaries, and unwilling to live farther away, can only rent. So they have more money left for cars. Folks making the same salaries but willing to live farther away and "settle" for a $700K house will have higher housing expenses and less money for cars.

For perspective, my west LA (Santa Monica adjacent... lol) 2 bedroom cost $1800 per month (a bargain). I use to have a lower Brentwood 1 Bedroom apartment at $1500 per month (also a bargain).

In Santa Monica however, an lower end 1 bedroom is $1700 and a lower end 2 bedroom is $2200. Low income (under about $60,000 married... less if single) is $1500 for a 1 bedroom/lofted studio (which, in my opinion, is unaffordable at that income range).

Why would anyone in Manhattan even want a car, let alone a nice car. Garaging the car would probably run close to the payments, and no need for speed when you lucky to do 40 mph.

When I lived in Manhattan I had a car. Probably cost more to park it than people pay in rent in many other places in the country. I got tired of renting a car every time I wanted to go somewhere on the weekends. So for me it was an easy decision. The car sat in the garage all week. It wasn't for driving within the city. You don't live in Manhattan and not expect to spend a fortune on everything. Dropping 500 a month on a parking spot doesn't seem like a big deal when the average rent is in the thousands of dollars for even the most basic of apartments.

WRT to the OP's header: my intention when "buying" a BMW is that I will keep it until it dies, regardless of warranty so long as it remains reliable. We kept our 318i for over 20 years. It didn't die, but it was time to sell it. We sold our 325i after only 10 years with less than 70k miles, because it did not occur to me: first, moving outside of a non-SULEV friendly state made you ineligible for the extended emissions warranty; second, that the SULEV had a sealed gas tank where the fuel pump is housed, making for a major repair around 10-15 yr mark (approx considering the extended emissions warranty is 15/150k) out of warranty. I supposed we could have kept it for another 5 years betting that the emissions related parts like the fuel pump would last as long as the warranty period, but with money being nearly free these days to borrow (we normally pay cash, but it is nearly free these days at .5%) and the incentives being offered, we let it go. If not for the SULEV crap, we would have most assuredly had the car for at least another 10 years since the car did not have any major or medium issues and it was just damn reliable. It sucked getting rid of it, my wife was rather sad actually. Our 3 year old 335D and our new 328xi will remain with us hopefully for a very long time, but again we will gauge it depending on how reliable they remain.

There are lemons in every car maker's fleet, but we've been fortunate to have gotten reliable cars. This doesn't mean regular maintenance doesn't cost, it does; however, I think people who cannot afford something have a tendency to let things slide like a little leak or something just for the ownership. We aren't that way. We understand that owning a BMW has its expense, and even if our indie mechanic says it's only a small leak or it can wait, we don't let it wait.

I had to ditch my 2004 X5 with 90K miles on it because the repair costs had become equal to what I'd be paying monthly for a new car with all the new technology. boltjaM3s makes some valid, if somewhat snobbish, points about being in a luxury car. I plan on spending $800 a month either on payments or repairs so I might as well be driving a new one. Plus--and this I can not emphasize enough--the chicks dig it.

I've been lurking for awhile and more often than not people have said that owning a BMW outside of warranty is a bad idea. I've owned Japanese cars all of my life and I'm spoiled by their reliability. I love a fun driving car as much as the next guy. I also fall in love with my cars and tend to hold on to them.

However, I absolutely hate having to take time out of my day to deal with automotive repairs. I'm assuming that warning against owning outside of warranty is due to the fact that there will be more than a few repairs to deal with.

(Patiently awaiting BJ's condescending remarks ).

Here is something to ponder. I've owned two 3 series...with both 'well over' 100,000 miles. My expenses beyond the warranty period would not justify buying the extended program. Note...the recent consumer report...gives the 3 series the top reliability rating...along with the Honda Accord 4 cylinder.

But, with a new turbo 4 engine....'maybe' an extended warranty might be worth it...if only to offset the worry factor.

I had to ditch my 2004 X5 with 90K miles on it because the repair costs had become equal to what I'd be paying monthly for a new car with all the new technology. boltjaM3s makes some valid, if somewhat snobbish, points about being in a luxury car. I plan on spending $800 a month either on payments or repairs so I might as well be driving a new one. Plus--and this I can not emphasize enough--the chicks dig it.

"cheating their way into the roundel" is a keeper.

The X5 was not a very reliable car...per Consumer Reports. The X3...even today...is more reliable.

The X5's reliability has never approached that of the 3 series (more specifically, the 328's) sedans and coupes (again...per Consumer Reports).

Why would anyone in Manhattan even want a car, let alone a nice car. Garaging the car would probably run close to the payments, and no need for speed when you lucky to do 40 mph.

Because people who live and work in the city like to get away on the weekends.

For the 10 years I lived in Manhattan, I had a car in an expensive garage because it was my ticket out of the city every week. Visiting family on Long Island, cruising out to football games in New Jersey, hauling it up to Vermont for skiing, the Hamptons, and on and on.

It's been my experience that there is a significant amount of that upkeep to keep the car working as things keep breaking and especially so compared to all the other cars that I have owned.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. If you are driving a a 3 series (not an M)...you should be experiencing much less in expenses. Take it from a guy who has had two 3 series....with combined mileage over 250,000 miles. Also note Consumer Reports' recent stellar reliability ratings for the 328.